Five Life Lessons From Surfing with Dolphins
Nature has many lessons to teach us about living. Especially now, when COVID limits where we go and what we do.
A few years ago I was surfing at Huntington Beach, California. It was 2016, and I was 73.
All I hoped for was a few hours of good surfing. The fresh salt air awakened memories of when I first surfed there in 1964.
Lesson 1: The phenomenon of sounds and smells often brings a flurry of memories. Nature has a way of stimulating them.
As I entered the water, a growing swell caught my attention. It was rapidly transforming into a substantial wave. I jumped on my board and paddled fast to dive under the incoming break.
Lesson 2: Nature is always in a state of change. Sometimes it’s rapid; sometimes glacial. Most of us resist change. Though conditioned to expectations and routines, whatever our age, we have the ability to grow.
Paddling past the forming swells brought me near a pod of dolphins. They were watching, their heads high out of the water. My senses told me they wanted to play
Lesson 3:. Trust in our senses and heart-felt feelings opens us to new life experiences.
I paddled faster and dove under the incoming break. One of the dolphins followed, cutting into the building wave. Suddenly, a curl of water arched into a beautiful tube; a portal into timelessness.
Lesson 4: Time seems to accelerate as we age. Being in nature makes us more present and aware. I experience this when surfing, floating in deep powder or running the rapids. Even simple changes in less exotic daily routines make us more present and can slow things down.
Pressing forward on the board sped me toward the opening of the tunnel. Behind me the wave collapsed, pushing a spay and blowing me out and up over the backside.
Farther out two dolphins cut across the face of the incoming wave. One made a swift cut upwards, spinning high, turning and diving back to the sea. Show off, I thought. Dolphins often like to perform and play in waves with surfers. They knew I was impressed.
Lesson 5: We become much more alive when we are aware of and sensitive to our surroundings and those in them.
Experience tells me that most of us want more years in our lives. Regardless of who we are or what we can do, being more present and aware provides us with more life in our years.
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Aug. 28)
We’re On Vacation!
Seniors Skiing is a video produced by correspondent Don Burch. Click the image below to bring back images of last winter.
Mask-covered, social-distanced, sanitized-hands, take-out vacations are the end of August things to do at SeniorsSkiing.com. Jon has isolated himself in a travel trailer somewhere in the North West, and I’ve been on a sailboat in Maine, watching ospreys and sunsets.
However, we do want to send you a reminder of winter dreams. Here’s a neat video from SeniorsSkiing.com correspondent Don Burch that shows us what it is all about. Enjoy. Just click on the image to watch.
Thanks, Don, for this wonderful gift of winter.
Remember, there are more of us every day, and we are not going away.
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (July 31)
Hints Of The Coming Winter, Questions For You, Covid Fitness, Ski Canada And Covid.
Wow, turn around, and it’s the end of July, and August is upon us. Has Covid-19 accelerated the clock? It seems like we are rushing into fall. And all the uncertainty that will bring.
One thing for certain, we know most people don’t like uncertainty, ambiguity, vagueness; we like the opposite much more: predictability, certainty, clarity. Well, that ain’t happening these days, so we might as well get used to it, because it is definitely going to affect winter sports next winter.
Take Australia, for instance. It’s winter down there, and ski resorts began operating in late June, but a record high of 191 new coronavirus cases hit the state of Victoria on July 7, prompting Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews to revert to stage three restrictions, similar to stay-at-home orders issued in the United States this spring, for six weeks. In response, Vail Resorts, operator of Hotham and Falls Creek in Victoria, announced that it would suspend operations at the two resorts, according to a report in Powder Magazine.
Boom. Closed. At least for a while.
Mt. Hotham trails open report from the resort’s website. Owner Vail Resorts closed down the area after a spike in virus infections.
On the other hand, resorts in New Zealand are operating without the usual Covid restrictions, because the country locked down tight in late March, flattened the curve, and beat the virus. However, it’s a domestic crowd hitting The Remarkables and Mount Hutt, resulting in 50-80 percent of normal visitations. International visitors won’t be making the En-Zed scene this year due to travel restrictions.
Meanwhile, The Remarkables in Queenstown, NZ, are open to domestic visitors only. NZ locked down in late March and beat the virus. At least so far.
So, while US and Canadian resorts will be limiting visitor capacity, accepting only online reservations, practicing distancing on lifts and lift lines, frequently sanitizing facilities, restricting food service and even terrain accessibility, if the virus peaks again regionally, some local resort owners could do what the Victoria areas did and shut down for some length of time.
That will leave winter sports lovers with some choices. At SeniorsSkiing.com, we feel—based on our survey responses—that readers will either find somewhere else to go or start or re-introduce themselves to cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or fat-biking, outdoor winter sports that may satisfy the need for cold weather activity. Should that future scenario unfold, SeniorsSkiing.com plans to help our readers make a transition to alternative winter sports with information resources and recommendations specifically for our senior readership.
Look for “Make More Tracks” coming up this fall.
This Week
Downtown Banff. Bike rental on Banff Ave. which was closed to traffic this summer for social distancing. Credit: SkiBig3
SeniorsSkiing.com correspondent Yvette Cardozo reports on preparations underway in some leading Canadian resorts, anticipating the US-Canada will be open by the beginning of ski season. One thing is for sure, uncertainty is out there, but planning the details helps boost confidence in visitors.
Have you been keeping up with your Covid-era exercise and fitness program? We ask that question in one of our Questions For You. Also, SeniorsSkiing.com correspondent tells about what Covid has done for him, physical-fitness-wise.
We also have a question for you about our upcoming SeniorsSkiing.com Classified Ad section. We’d like your input on what categories you’d like to see and your impressions about carrying classified ads in our online magazine.
And finally, speaking of “Make More Tracks”, here’s a GoPro promo video of a guy named Chuck Patterson skiing down some waves in Hawaii. Perhaps we should all be learning to ski on water? Global warming? Eh?
Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com. Be safe out there. Wear a mask, wash your hands, distance. And remember there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.
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